A "PONDERMENT"

Matthew 22 36-40

36. Master, which is the great commandment in the law?

37. Jesus said unto him, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind.

38.  This is the first and great commandment.

39.  And the second is like unto it.  Thou shalt love they neighbour as thyself.

40.  On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets.

I've been pondering this a lot lately.  It's really an important principle to put into practice in our lives because it truly has a profound effect on the way that we live.  If we love the Lord, with all all our hearts, souls and minds, we understand who we truly are, that we are of a divine nature and if we do all we can to strengthen our relationship with the Lord by keeping His commandments and learning to do His will, we can go through our lives with great strength and courage, knowing that all He has is ours if we will just seek it, remembering Him and remembering we are truly His children and He loves us unconditionally.

The second great commandment, has been a basic principle to me, I applied it as the Golden Rule, do unto to others and you would have others do to you.  Now, I see, that that philosophy was rather flawed.  When you decide to treat others like you want to be treated you have already put a condition on your love for others.  If they don't treat you how you would like to be treated, it is a natural tendency to want to withdraw your love from the person that disappointed you and maybe didn't understand how you wanted to be treated, because they were showing you the consideration they would like for themselves.  So, the second greatest commandment is much deeper than that.  If we love the Lord, we love ourselves because we understand who we truly are, and it stands to reason that if we know who we are, we know that those around us are also beloved children of our Heavenly Father, and  deserve to be treated as nobility with dignity and respect, even if they have forgotten who they are for the moment.  Showing the same grace, mercy and unconditional love that our Heavenly Father shows us, gives those around us a spark of memory, even if just for the brief time we are with them, that they are divine, and shows God that we truly love Him, because we love His children as He does.

As I try to put this principle more fully into practice in my life, I find myself more patient with others, but still a bit impatient with myself, when I forget to apply the same rule to me.  I heard a speaker this past week say that the biggest obstacle we have in the way of our success is forgetfulness.  The speaker further explained that when we forget who we are, and what we are seeking at the moment, we lose focus and allow other things to be in control of who we really are and what we really desire.  I am going to continue to work on this, and someday, probably quite a few years from now, I may fnd myself nearer to mastering it.  Life and trials are great teachers, it's just I tend to forget the depth of the lesson when the road briefly becomes easier.